Hello and welcome to the orientation lecture focusing on lenture and certification. My name is Dr. Thomas Foster. I'm the program director of the counseling program and I'm going to walk you through this presentation. Now I know that you uh chances are you're just starting the program and lenture might be something that is uh far from uh uh your mindset. Uh but what I'd like to do is just uh uh just go over some of the basics in terms of uh lenture and how to uh even start preparing for it as soon as like before you even start the program. So yeah, let's let's just start. Um I would I'd like to go over the whole concept of lure versus certification because I think these two terms get thrown together quite a bit, but they're actually very different. Uh lensure is the uh is is what you need so you can practice uh uh uh so you can practice counseling uh the you know the the assessment diagnosis and treatment of mental emotional disorders. You need a license to be able to practice legally in whatever state you're living in. You also need a license to be able to bill insurance if you want to go that route. Uh each license is specific to the uh to each state. So there's 50 states in the union. There are 50 different lensure boards. There are um a lot of different acronyms in terms of uh uh what lensure is called in each state. As you can see these are just a few LPC, LPCC which is um these are called this is licensed professional counselor uh licensed professional clinical counselor, licensed clinical professional counselor, licensed mental health counselor and licensed clinical mental health counselor. I think there are other ones, but these are the main ones. Um, so, um, sometimes certifications serve as licenses. So, uh, if you have, if you're a school counselor, you don't necessarily need a license to practice school counseling, but the school might require you to have a school counseling certification. Okay? With certifications, you can't practice with just a certification. uh not if you're going to practice uh uh as a as a as a clinical mental health counselor, you can't build insurance through certification. Uh certifications, a lot of them are nationally based. It's not state-based. Uh sometimes uh uh certifications will help you get lenture at least that used to the you know the um uh the NBCC the national board of certified counselors that's a this is a organization that they offer the national certified counselor uh certification the uh certification and certified clinical mental health counselor national certified school counselor and a master's addiction counselor. Once again, you cannot bill insurance using these things, nor can you practice legally in whatever state that you live in using these. You need the license. These are just kind of extra things that you can put on the wall. And I'm sure there they have their their place and they have their strengths. Um, all right. What is the lensure process? This is important for you to know now because what you do now can affect you later. Uh, every state is going to be different in terms of what the lensure process is. So I can't go into all detail about all 50 states and also they change their process uh quite frequently. So uh it's easier if you go and find your state's lensure board website for the details uh and then adjust your program to your state's requirements. So uh if you look up your state's requirements on our website, if you go to our website and click on this tab lensure and certification requirements by state, this will pop up. And as you can see, there's a table below that have all of the different states, all 50 states, and then all of what the um the lensure board uh websites, the web uh site for the education requirements, any uh additional requirements for Krep and um and then you know basically how we can uh how we can accommodate for that. So what I would do uh is uh before you create your informal degree plan, make sure that there are not extra courses that are beyond the K crepe eight core areas uh that you need for your state. So if you look down here uh just by looking at Alaska, if you would click on the education requirements, you're going to find that uh that there is an additional course requirement for lensure beyond KREP, which is a marriage and family course. Well, can we accommodate that? Yes, we can because we not only have um uh uh we have two courses uh that you could use to to meet that requirement. First one is introduction to marriage, couple and family and the second one is an MFT class, the MFT program uh called uh couple and marital therapy. So both either of those would probably qualify for that state lensure requirement. Okay. Okay. So, step one, you first you have to graduate with a masters. So, you're just starting that you know that that that you're on you're on the right track. Uh 60-hour program because all lensure boards now require a 60-hour program that have all eight core areas of counseling. You don't have to worry about that because if you're KREP accredited, you have all eight core areas. So, you don't have to go and and make sure that we have that. We have that. Uh includes a practicum and internship. Okay? You know, that's part of KREP. So, if if you go through a KREP program and graduate uh with um you graduate from a Krep accredited program, chances are nine and a half times out of 10 you don't have to do anything else. Um however, like I said before, some states have additional courses that they require to become licensed. So like you live in the state of Florida, uh they still require a human sexuality course and they also require I believe a substance abuse course to get licensed in that state. That is not part of the eight core areas of counseling. That is a Florida extra and some states do require that or you know do have those extra requirements. Also, some states do have uh practum and internship requirements that are additional to the KREP uh 600 hours of internship. So, once again, look up your state, see if there's anything that see says anything about pract internship, and if there's an addition to the 600 hours, then contact Dr. Moon. She's our uh pra internship coordinator and your adviser, and and and they will they will help you. It's this is this is not a huge deal but it's better to get in front of it rather than uh try to catch up to it. All right, step two. Uh every state of the union has a state lensure exam by which you have to take uh in order to uh get licensed. Now some of these state lensure exams you can take uh before you uh uh graduate from uh you know your your masters some during the time that you are a um you know that you're a practicing clinician at the provisional level and then some as right when you're uh going to uh um apply for independent lensure. Once again you just have to look at the state requirements. Also typically there are two I don't think that um I think this is really the the main um these two are the main lensure examinations that states use now and this is through uh the national board of certified counselors the national counselor examination otherwise known as the NCE is a common state lensure exam that is used in many states also there's the national clinical mental health counseling exam uh which once again it's used in in many states some use one or the other Some use both. So once again, you just you have to look up your uh your respective state and see what uh they require. One thing that I mean that you might want to think about is just taking both. So that way if you ever move, you don't ever have to worry about that again unless um you know, unless the compact goes through, you know, the counseling compact and you can just go from state to state and be licensed anywhere. But I don't think that is quite where it needs to be yet. All right. Uh for the NBCC uh there's a website resources. Uh the NBCC homepage is just nbcc.org. Uh there's also handbooks found on our website uh and under professional activities and resources tab that can help you prepare for uh these exam these examinations. Uh okay. So uh another step in this process is to apply for provisional lensure. Anytime you graduate with a master's in counseling or any other masters in mental health, uh you don't become independently licensed right away. You have to apply for uh provisional lensure. And this allows you to practice under supervision with somebody who is fully licensed and also is qualified to provide supervision. So in let's say in Louisiana, provisional license is not the LPC, but it's the PLPC stands for provisional licensed professional counselor. In Ohio, uh it's it's uh their provisional license is the PC, which is professional counselor. Uh and their independent license is professional clinical counselor. And in Illinois, their provisional license is LPC and their full license is the LCPC. So, when you start out, you're starting out with a provisional license. You practice for a while, and then you get your independent license. So, and that's part of step four. Step four is typically most states it's right around 3,000 hours to complete 3,000 hours of clinical uh hours postgraduation under a provisional lensure. And typically it's half is going to be direct hours, half is going to be indirect hours. Now it just depends on your state. Like some states are going to require more hours than 3,000. Some are going to require like you could take do less if you and then if you took more classes like some states have those kinds of options, but the typical hourly requirement is 3,000 hours, which really comes down to working a full-time job. If you get a a full-time job working in a clinical mental health, you know, center or a school and you are going to work 40 hours a week, you will meet this 30,000 hour requirement within about two years. So, you know, give or take. Um, you have to be supervised. So uh what I would say is uh there there are these credentials beyond an LPC called an LPCS or an LPCCS. It's a supervisor credential and most state lensure boards have them. So for people that have the state uh uh certifi uh the state um endorsement for supervision, those are the people that have that that credential, those are the people that can supervise you and and those hours will will count towards your independent license. Typically, you know, it this is a paid position that you have to pay somebody to engage in. Sometimes uh jobs will offer this as a as as free. So it just it just depends. But that's something uh that you have to think about in terms of working the hours, finding a supervisor to supervise you once a week for an hour for these hours and then uh in order to to meet that qualification. So uh just to sum up a bit, you need a master's in counseling. You passed your lensure exam. You complete your post uh graduate clinical hours. always check with your state lensure board for you know nuances in terms of like extra classes or more you know supervision or more you know internship time things like that and then that's and that's really it um this is really like the nutshell um uh you know of of lenture for counseling and and really it looks it looks a lot like this for social work marriage and family therapy I mean it's pretty much across the board um so this isn't really a a very different process than what other uh mental health professions have to go through. But this is once again just an orientation. I would encourage you to look at your state lensure boards to see what nuances they might have and what you know what is going to be the clear path for you to um to apply for lensure someday. So all right well I hope this has been helpful and everyone have a good day today.